Traditional firearm grips such as, for example, those known near the end of the 19th century, included two lateral grip shells and a grip back. The grip shells and the grip back were manufactured from hardwood, which required precise workmanship to guarantee a good grip. The wood grip shells of the Austrian handgun model 1912 (Steyr) were attached to a grip piece of a firearm by sliding the grip shells on bars from the bottom of the grip piece and were held in place by a single transverse pin. Shortly after the introduction of the 1912 (Steyr) handgun, World War I broke out and seasoned walnut wood, which is required for production of the wood grip shells, was no longer available. Alternative wood was used that, after the wood naturally dried out after a period of time, shrank, which caused the grip shells to wiggle. If, during this time period, a suitable plastic material would have been available, this problem may not have occurred. Moreover, it would have been possible to manufacture grip shells with the required precision because die-casting allows for high production numbers and, at the same time, guarantees constant high stability.
The supply industry has developed a large selection of grip shells and grip backs for firearms such as, for example, self-loading handguns, which may be manufactured from many possible types of materials. These grip shells and grip backs may be purchased along with handguns equipped with standardized grip shells as, for example, the weapon described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,282 (“Sniezak”). However, all of these grip shells and grip backs are designed for traditional ordinance weapons and the original grip shells are easily removed from the firearms.
Steel may be used to manufacture grip pieces, however, since the 1980's, modern self-loading handguns typically have grip pieces manufactured from a plastic material and are formed as one piece grip pieces (i.e., the grip shells form one piece with the grip pieces). Some advantages of these grip pieces are: weight reduction, corrosion protection and radical decrease of production costs because the grip pieces may be formed with high precision in one work process using composite casting and without requiring post-processing.
However, because plastic is much less firm and has lower stability than steel, the plastic composite grip pieces are much bulkier than steel grips. To make the grip pieces less bulky, the plastic grip shells and the plastic grip piece are separate pieces and the plastic grip shells assume a basic support function for the weapon. Consequently, in an emergency, a firearm with a plastic grip piece that lacks the grip shells may not be fired without being damaged, whereas, this was possible with traditional self-loading handguns with steel grip pieces.
Conventional plastic grip pieces of ordinance weapons are typically designed as one size fits all so that people over a large range of hand sizes are able to handle the weapon correctly. However, a person with a smaller hand may not be able to operate such weapons. Because there has been a decrease in the number of applicants who apply to join police forces, police forces do not exclude applicants from service based solely on their size and, thus, their compatibility with the size and dimensions of standard weapons. In addition, armed police forces include women, whose hands are usually smaller than those of men. Therefore, recent efforts have been made to equip such ordinance weapons with replaceable grip backs, so that people with different sizes of hands are able to reach the trigger of the handgun comfortably and securely. One such effort is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,237 (“Cupp”). Furthermore, European Patent 0 729 004 B1 (“Wespetal”) describes a handgun that includes replaceable grip pieces having a variety of surface conditions.
Such replaceable grip backs proved valuable. However, a person with a small hand who uses a handgun with a slim grip back will bend his/her finger at a different angle when activating the trigger than a person with a large hand who uses the same handgun with a larger, more bulky grip back. Only one angle of the finger is ideal when handling or firing a weapon.